Guest Post by Jenny Lapekas

I’ve noticed for quite some time now that on social media sites, along with news articles that allow readers to comment, users attack menstrual artwork, claiming it’s disgusting and meaningless, and certainly not feminist. No surprise there. What catches my attention the most, however, is when people draw a correlation between menstrual blood and feces. Sure, both substances exit our body as it cleanses itself, but our first blood—menarche—alerts us to a new, sophisticated process taking place within us. Art ventures whose medium is the message, such as Vanessa Tiegs’ “Menstrala” or Jen Lewis’s “Beauty in Blood” seek to materialize woman’s experience with blood and to suggest that it can in fact be positive.

Let’s look at some YouTube (the cruelest place on the web) comments found on Tiegs’ “Menstrala” videos:

crckthsfkcr:  “it just like the ‘artist’ who filled jars with his shit and sold them as a piece of art”

eliwoood1 shares:  “i threw up”

fat apollo writes:  “Oh gross. I will never understand you art people. You could use baby shit, call it art, and it’s acceptable.”

Trolling has obviously become an online phenomenon and can be a very irritating problem for many of us. It seems we’ve forgotten what our mothers told us as children: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” The types of trolls that seem to appear when content related to menstrual artwork is published online aim to be dismissive and condescending in their remarks and tone. A user who claims they vomited at the sight of menstrual artwork is no doubt invoking the compelling theme of body horror, particularly what menstrual artists seek to destroy. Username “fat Apollo” points to the idea that using menstrual blood to create art is not “acceptable.” Menstrual etiquette dictates that our bleeding should remain unseen, so by these unspoken standards, blood’s visibility and even glorification are enough to give some people a heart attack. Because menstruation is frequently seen as an unruly process, many find blood’s placement within a controlled medium to be puzzling, and thus offensive.

What to do about trolls then? Nothing. Eyes and ears must be open for education to take place. Too often I’ve encountered circular dialogue that leads nowhere between trolls and those who are being attacked for what they’ve posted, what they believe, or what they hold dear in this world. It seems that the web accommodates ignorance as much as it opens new and exciting doors for its users. What better platform to anonymously claim ignorance and then resist the push for self-education? Even with all the information available online, it’s futile to conduct research when we simply leave no room in our minds to digest the material and ideas we find there.

Yes, both menstrual blood and feces are forms of waste. However, not only is menstruation unique to women, but it’s evidence of our own mortality, where we come from, and the bittersweet reality that we’ll decay and die to make way for new life. Isn’t there something terribly poetic about that? Because menstrual blood can be seen as the body’s failed attempt to procreate, this blood is highly symbolic, especially for women trying (some desperately) to conceive; for this particular group of menstruators, the arrival of blood can mark heartache and depression—as opposed to the many women who sigh with relief during that magical moment in the bathroom that can make even the most committed atheists thank God in heaven for that bloody stain in their panties.

Menstrual blood, then, carries with it multitudes of stories, what ifs, and the humble knowledge that it is the same blood that pumps through all of our veins, nourishes the body, and enables us to carry on each day. The act of appropriating it as a means of aesthetic expression is not only subversive and wildly feminist but helps to broaden viewers’ understanding of the menstrual cycle and the interplay between beauty and biology.

Aside from the obvious problems the Internet age ushers in, such as trolls who use the web to either become entirely different people or to be who they really are, different forms of art have always been attacked, and will continue to be as long as artists are creating and sharing them with the world. If someone poops in a jar and calls it art, I’d ask them to explain their ideas to me before I’d dismiss them entirely. What constitutes art? It’s all subjective, of course, but I would encourage those who are confused or horrified by menstrual artwork to examine their own bodies and their feelings toward their skin, their hair, their genitalia, etc.

I’m not proposing that everybody should be a fan of menstrual paintings and photography endeavors, but simply that we should perhaps think as we react to their online presence and assess their social and feminist value, if any. Frequently, in place of thought, we have vacant assessment, and in place of education, we have Google. Even if we don’t identify with the belief that menstrual blood is sacred, but rather just the shedding of the lining of the uterus, I’d suggest that we could be happy for those who find meaning in this form of artistic expression.

My two cents: Your blood—menstrual or otherwise—is your body acknowledging that you’re divine and have every right to be in this universe; let’s please stop comparing it to shit.